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Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 02:21:32 -0400
Reply-To: Aaron Larson
Sender: Is there a child sex abuse witchhunt?
From: Aaron Larson
Subject: Fells Acres
To: WITCHHNT@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
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It is important to recall in any discussion of Fells Acres that there were
parents who insisted (and continue to insist) that the misdeeds alleged
against the Amiraults could not have occurred, and that the doors of the
daycare were always open for unexpected parental visits, which were
welcomed.
I would expect that the children who came to believe they were abused
through the course of the interrogations inflicted in that case no longer
adhere to the eccentric details of the alleged abuse. I don't know how
realistic it is to expect a person who has been repeatedly told "you were
abused," since the age of three or four, to suddenly realize "I was not
abused."
Recall Piaget's firm memory of being briefly kidnapped as a child -- a
memory that turned out to be rooted exclusively in the false account of
his nanny, who had created the story to cover up her theft of some cash
entrusted to her by his parents.
I don't know that it is realistic to demand or expect a retraction under
those circumstances, regardless of desirability. Insurance settlements may
be a factor, but I would venture that most of the children at issue adhere
to the essence of their stories for other reasons.